Contents

These specialist elite units are invisible to the enemy at long to medium range, and can deal terrible damage. They have the useful tool of a grappling hook, which enables them to climb over walls and, more importantly, hijack enemy gatehouses to make way for attacking forces. Their sabers are sharp enough to kill unarmored units and soldiers with leather armour (macemen are good counterparts, however).

When an assassin becomes visible, a yellow exclamation mark appears above his head and enemy units may attack. Assassins are visible when they are nearing units, appearing as semi-transparent at a distance for the enemies.

Assassins have moderate speed and health, but high attack. Normally, they're used to climb an enemy gate to open it for your ground troops to swarm in, or mount an attack on an enemy lord while his army is absent. If an army is present, other units are sent in first to distract the archers, then assassins are sent from behind. Defending against assassins is done by using a moat, double crenelated walls, or man traps. Assassins can also act as invisible bodyguards, since ranged attackers will not see them until melee units are very close.

Assassins are usually frowned upon in multiplayer matches, due to the fact that they are stealthed and at the same time do high amounts of damage. A player can train many assassins and find an easy chink in the enemy's walls, then slip their assassins through to the lord and make short work of him.

Assassins in Stronghold 2 behave very differently from that of in Crusader. While retaining relative fragility, the assassin's cloaking is much more effective, since they can only be detected from almost melee range. This makes them perfect for raids or commando tasks, such as capturing gatehouses or removing small clusters of units from walls. The assassin also has a very high attack speed, giving an upper edge in combat against weaker units. Lastly, this unit has an incredible speed (especially in non-open formations), traversing huge distances over the map.

These advantages come with a very huge price however. Assassins cost 100 gold and 200 honour, making them the most expensive unit in Stronghold 2.

In Crusader, when moving to their assembly flag (having pressed 4 and then placed on the map, while the mercenary post is selected), they travel 1.5x faster than normal. This tactic can be used to the player's advantage very often.